Do you have any plans to leave Hot Springs?

Keep trucking! I bet a ton of people would love to get out of where they are and move west! Especially live players.

Ok so i know its been too long but i'm going to get around to that freeroll i offered a long time ago. Playing in a 1k guarantee today giving away winnings. Posting from phone so will write more when i get home.

am I still one of the recipients?

Sounds like your mate just doesn't want you to go. I've had mates like that in the past. I've left for like 3 years and had some of the best times of my life, then I go back home and he's still where he was 3 yrs back. It's like his life was on hold the whole time and I didn't miss anything.

Get out there and live your life. It's a cliche, but John Lennon was right. "life is what happens while you're making other plans".

Man I don't know, thinking about going to LA but having doubts. I'm soooo torn lol. Poker is godlike here. Like rediculously, rediculously soft. I also grew up here so I'm kind of fond of it.

Interestingly enough, I haven't seen aforementioned friend in person for about 3 years. She knows me pretty well though IMO and she just got that impression that I'm having some mild version of a life-crisis from our sporadic (less than once a month) phone conversations, and I've been giving it a lot of thought recently and I'm kind of worried that it's true. Can't figure it out for sure though, heh.

Yea, didn't cash though =/ made final table with 2nd in chips, then lost half my stack with AK vs. AA aipf, then shoved 53o from SB with about 10bb (BB was very tight) and ran into AA again.

So actually I've also noticed my poker growth has probably stagnated without constantly updating this thread with my thoughts, so I'll start talking about some poker stuff again!

Hand 1: I limp 55 from the button, SB limps, 7 to the flop. Table is a mix of $100 to $300 stacks.

Flop: K52, $14 pot
Checked to the huge fish, 100% most straightforward player ever, to my right who bets $2 (derp). I just flat as I've been showdown-owning this guy, I have over $1000 in front of me and he's giving me insane amounts of respect. One other caller. Raise here is fine (and more standard), that's not really what I want to discuss in this hand.

Turn T, $20 pot
Checked to me, I bet $15, guy to my right calls, other guy folds.

River 2, $50 pot
He donks $25, I'm almost certain he has a 2 here. He has $200 behind. I make it $100, he calls (didn't show). Really wasn't sure if I should have just went ahead and shipped all $200 in =/ not sure if he would have folded.

Hand 2: Most interesting hand I played today by far. I limp 87 from button after several others, a frequent raiser makes it $10 from BB, which is like definitely a weak hand from him. Two callers, I make it $50 expecting to take it down pre. To my surprise 3 players total call, main villain starts hand with $500, others have about $250.

Flop T52, pot $200
Checked to me, I bet $125, villain calls. Now, notes about villain. She overbets pot constantly with any sort of ANYTHING, gutshot, bottom pair, etc. Does not like folding. She is SB in the "funny hand" posted below. I'm thinking her flop calling range is like, anything that's at least as good as QJo or 64o on this board, and not as good as Tx or she would raise for sure.

Turn 5, pot $450
She bets $50 with about $250 behind. wtf is this?? Like I feel like this indicates a weak hand even more than a check OR a jam. I call planning to jam 100% of rivers if checked to.

River J, pot $550
She checks, I jam for $250, she folds. Hm...... lucky fish or amazing soulread? You decide

Hand 3: This one isn't *that* interesting but it's a refresher on ranges. I limp 77 behind some others in MP, main villain raises preflop from LP (memory fails for exact positions), he is another pretty straightforward gigantic call-station so his range is 88+, AJ+ here 95%+ of the time with the raise. We see flop 4 handed.

Flop 932, pot $60
Checked around.

Turn 5, pot $60
Two players check, I bet $25 expecting to get called by any Ax here, villain and 1 other calls.

River 6, pot $135
Check, check, villain bets $75. Other guy folds, I'm 100% not folding ever here, debating between calling or jamming for $150 more. Villain can only have a 4 here after raising preflop like 1% of the time, but I don't expect him to bet a hand like TT for thin value either, or call a jam with a hand as strong as AA on this board. Anyway, I just called and he showed AQ. Players at the table seemed astounded by this call with 2nd pair on a 4-straight board, but damn, like, this isn't even remotely close to a fold.

One quick commentary about this hand. I've noticed people are more likely to bluff when they feel entitled to win the pot- he raised pre with a good hand, flop got checked around, tiny bet on a turn, flopped a nut flush draw, turned a straight draw, and yea. In his mind, he was convinced he was going to win this pot and the cards/actions kept reinforcing that, so when it got to the river and he really didn't think he could win any other way except with a bet, that's what he tried

Hand 4: Also, funniest hand I witnessed today, although I have to say it isn't THAT unusual here at Oaklawn. 2 limps including SB.

Flop A86, pot $6
SB bets $2, BB raises to $6, other guy folds, SB raises to $12, BB shoves for $275 total. SB thinks for about 10 seconds and calls. SB shows Q5, BB shows A9. Nice.

damn, you really do have some good games there.

In the 78ss hand...
I don't really like your play, only because you don't have any showdown value, and there's nothing you can do if she leads on the river.

If you had something like 77, and could hero call some rivers, then I think your play is understandable. But by just floating the turn, you give her the opportunity to open jam the river.

If you're soul reading the $50 bet as super weak, then why not just shove the turn? There aren't any draws out there, so you don't have to worry about her calling with random high card draws.

Also, your limp/raise from the button is weak, as you don't really rep anything good. Any player with half a brain will realize that you never have a big hand in that spot.

Not worried about this, hahahaha

In fact I made a play today that I didn't write about, but I limped 99 from MP-ish, BB (frequent raiser) made it $14, 2 callers, I'm almost certain I have the best hand here, original raiser always makes it like $20+ (lol) with his good hands, so I made it $50, original raiser folds, another fold, then the last guy who limped and called the $14 decided to jam for $275 total. He probably thought his nitty-old-man image would save him but that was mega-repping nothing to me so I snapped and he had A7s. Again, people applauding my call (140bb vs a nit with 99!) but it really wasn't that hard :P

Those were the only two limp-raises I made all day. As to why I didn't raise 99 pre, I have good reasons for it, mainly being that's not a hand that plays great in single raised pots against the particular villains I'm up against. It's great vs other thinking players, but against this field I'd much rather set mine or, on very rare occasions when the conditions are perfect, limp/raise it into a low SPR pot where I think I have the best hand.

Actually if I had 77 I would definitely jam turn. With my hand, I'm worried about jamming the turn and getting called by something like A3, or even something like AJ which definitely folds river. I guess I lose value with my 8 high vs hands like 63, rofl.

Also her preflop range is literally ATC unless there's monster action. At Oaklawn we play on electronic tables that track statistics, I saw that villains in hand 1 and hand 2 both had more than 80% "flops seen" over 100+ hands, and that 80% is actually a lower number than their VPIP because it doesn't even include their limp/folds. I think neither one ever, ever folded if it wasn't raised.

On the topic of bad play: Oaklawn is a really isolated community. I'll write up a longer post with more details sometime because I think it's a really interesting topic, but basically none of these players have heard of 2+2, and they learn from each other- the general attitude towards poker is just a gamble. For example, one of the better players at the table- I cannot emphasize that italicized part enough- called 1/3 of his stack pre with 54s, then called off the rest when the PFR (old nitty guy who has QQ+ here 100% of the time) potted the flop on a J87r board. He hit the 6 also, heh, makes it a bit more memorable. I kind of feel like a lot of the players treat poker like craps or slots- they know the odds are against them but they're alright with the gamble.

i know that feel and it sucks

Ok, I understand now

If you're willing to consistently limp strong hands like medium pairs, then I think it's a fine, and perhaps even trickly little play.

nh

OK I'm like 90% sure I'm going to move to Hong Kong/Macau for awhile. Why? For the hell of it, see the world, etc.

+1

cambodia/manila have games too

Drop by australia for a bit too. Don't try making a living as a pro here tho. Take is high and cost of living is higher. Minimum wage is about US$17.

Nice thread! I'm an Arkansas boy as well and have been to Oaklawn several times. Do they have a legitimate poker room now? Last time I remember all of the cards were displayed electronically on the screen embedded in the table.

Still only electronic cards. TBH I used to be irritated at not being able to play with chips/etc., but I actually like the electronic tables better. Here's a list of all the most significant pros/cons I can think of:

Pros:
-Hands per hour. We can get like 80 hands/hr when all regs are playing. Compared to a live table with 40 hands/hr this is double the winrate. HUGE HUGE HUGE.
-You can walk around and still be dealt a hand. It's easy to see, and I always return to my seat by the time it's my action, walking around in between hands is MUCH more troublesome with a real dealer.
-No angleshooting, string bets, misdeals, people wasting time trying not to showdown first, etc. Additionally, people actually also show hands a lot more since you have to physically click a "muck" or "show" button and most people think might as well click show! Also, you *can't* muck if you bluff river and get called. This makes people seriously less inclined to bluff, heh.
-No tipping. F yea.

Cons:
-Staring at a screen is bad for the eyes.

Stuff that I wasn't sure if it's a pro or a con:
-No one has to count the pot. This sometimes helps you but sometimes hurts you.
-Physical tells. I personally would list it as a pro, but to be completely unbiased, they are just different. Instead of seeing how people push their chips in, sometimes you can see them go towards the fold button then decide to call instead (easy double barrel), etc.
-No playing with chips. Sometimes this makes me sad but then I remember all the times I almost got carpal tunnel in St. Louis.

There's some other minor stuff (e.g., it's super-easy to top off to maximum buy-in on an electronic table), but yea those are the main ones.

Hmmm... Sounds like the electronic card setup is actually not as bad of a thing as I thought. I'll have to come down there and play sometime. I could only imagine the game being pretty soft since most of the players are probably horse bettors. GL at the tables.

oh ya LOL. I don't know anything about races, but when big ones are going on there is a 30 second intermission every 15 minutes or something at every table for everyone to cheer at horse races.

Also, living situation. I'm DEFINITELY 100% moving to either Hong Kong or Los Angeles by January. Just not sure which one... I'm a really indecisive person

Really interesting thread, thanks for taking the time!

jesus christ I need to stop trying to bluffcatch in spots where villain is polarized to air or nuts, average villain here has nuts every single time

man i really wish I didn't share this blog with IRL friends because there's **** I want to rant about, pics of girls I want to post, BUT I CANT.

I feel like I've been bipolar recently, sometimes super-happy with life, sometimes i feel depressed. right now I'm feeling down. I know why but I CANT SAY IT. Or I feel like I shouldn't say it, because people I know read this ****. Sigh................. I even ran hot at poker today and made ~$800 in 4 hours despite losing like $200 to two river herocalls vs. flopped boats. Some guy who's seen me win money in like 19 out of my last 20 sessions at Oaklawn said if poker was basketball, I'd be Lebron James. I lol'd. I should be ****ing psyched. Also **** you 2+2 for censoring words like **** and **** that literally 0% of my readerbase would be offended by. Really waters down the tone I'm trying to convey, YA FEEL ME?

Anyway, maybe one of these days, I'll tell the story. But not today.

Man, I can't end a post like that. So instead I will tell another story, a happy one. There is this one guy I play with nearly every day (*me clicks that link* HOLY **** HE'S 81?!?!?! WOWOWOW. I would have guessed like 60.)... OK anyway, his wife plays blackjack or something on the other side of the casino. She comes by and visits him every hour or two. Doesn't matter if she/he are winning or losing, she has the biggest smile on her face every time and he always smiles back. They're just so damn happy together. I envy that so much. I don't care about anything else, that is literally all I want out of life.

HERP DERP AESA. YOU REALLY DERPED THAT ONE UP BY TURNING A HAPPY STORY INTO A SELF-PITY STORY AGAIN. Let me try 1 more time to turn this post around.

Actually you know what, **** that. Not gonna try to force a happy tone that just isn't there in me tonight. Maybe tomorrow Threadsavers never fail though.

Going to a LAN party today. Low variance lifestyle for now IMO- 99% chance of having a good day here. Does nothing for my eventual goal of trying to get Jerry's life, (which, to be fair, my life goals literally change all the time), but guaranteed to not end in disappointment.

It's like in poker if SB shoves 500bb blind HU, you call with J6s since it has over 50% equity vs a random. However sometimes, you happen to find yourself in a game where your bankroll can't handle that variance so you fold. I'm at that stage in life. Low variance, relaxation, let's go get life back on track.

ALRIGHT ITS DECIDED. After very much indecision, I have told my friend who attends school in LA that he should get a 1-way ticket home and I'll drive back to LA with him and live there.

Sweet.

Looking forward to getting back into 5/10 games.